The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has launched the Spring phase of its 'Your Garden Year' campaign, a simple yet ambitious industry-wide framework designed to help gardeners feel confident, informed and inspired every week of the year. Backed by a national week-by-week planner and a suite of ready-to-use Spring assets, the initiative brings retailers, growers, suppliers, and the media together around a shared seasonal approach to inspire gardeners and drive demand.
In an industry that watches the weather as intently as the markets, consumer behaviour can often appear unpredictable. Rain falls, heatwaves arrive and footfall rises and dips accordingly. But the HTA believes that while no one can control the weather, the industry can take far greater ownership of something that matters even more: the gardener's journey.
First unveiled at Horticulture, The Conference in September, Your Garden Year was created by the HTA Retail Committee as a practical and positive response to one of the industry's biggest opportunities: how to sustain the interest of the millions of "fine-weather gardeners" who emerged during lockdown and encourage them to keep gardening all year round.
Neil Grant, Chair of the HTA Retail Committee, said the solution lies in consistent messaging and timing rather than in relying on perfect conditions.
"During lockdown, the gardening public grew almost overnight by around two million, but many of those people were never fully established as gardeners. What garden shoppers often need is stimulus, ideas and information at the right time to nudge them along. If we can remind and encourage them throughout the year about what's on offer, we can secure their repeat custom and keep gardening part of everyday life."
At its heart, Your Garden Year is a national week-by-week planner that brings together key seasonal gardening themes - from early-spring seed sowing to midsummer colour, wildlife care, lawn maintenance and winter interest. The aim is not to dictate creative direction, but to provide a common seasonal pulse, ensuring gardeners hear consistent guidance across retail, online, broadcast and print.
The Spring phase of Your Garden Year centres on the sales-driving theme 'It Starts with a Pot', encouraging gardeners of all abilities and with any size of outdoor space, to begin with container planting as a simple, accessible way back into gardening. Designed to convert inspiration into action, the approach supports increased basket spend across plants, quality compost, containers and accessories.
To support this, the HTA has released a free, ready-to-use resource packed with expert-backed assets for retailers, growers and communicators. These include specialist content toolkits such as Pots of Difference, Envious Hanging Baskets and Patios that Stun, with flexible copy lengths for use across blogs, websites, social media, in-store signage and handouts. The Spring launch also features coordinated Plant of the Moment promotions, with April focusing on Geums, Hardy Geraniums and Heucheras, followed by Nemesias, Argyranthemums and short Dahlias in May, alongside a dedicated social media toolkit and SEO guidance to help members reach more customers online.
Elia Johnston, HTA Director of Membership and Marketing, said the Spring assets were designed to help the whole industry move forward together.
"Your Garden Year gives our members a clear, shared structure and high-quality content they can make their own. By launching the Spring assets now, we're supporting our members in getting ready to inspire customers at exactly the right moment and to present gardening as approachable, achievable and rewarding for everyone."
The HTA also recognises the vital role of garden writers, broadcasters, and digital creators in shaping national gardening habits. For the media, Your Garden Year offers ready-made angles tied to seasonal milestones, access to expert HTA commentary and a clear framework to support editorial planning. An exclusive webinar for Garden Media Guild members took place earlier this week, ahead of the campaign's public showcase at the Garden Press Event in Spring 2026, allowing journalists to pick up the themes as timely inspiration for the peak season.
After several years of change in how people garden and spend their time outdoors, the HTA believes Your Garden Year offers a constructive, collaborative way to strengthen gardening habits and build long-term confidence across the sector. As Neil Grant concludes, "Together we can keep gardening in the public consciousness all year round, restoring the rhythm of the gardening calendar and growing the market for everyone."
For more information:
Horticultural Trades Association
[email protected]
www.hta.org.uk
